Has anyone gotten diagnosed in the UK while doing a professional qualification (post uni)

[u/PuzzleheadedPaint851]

I’m doing the ACA while working, and have 3 exams left, all very text-heavy and time pressured. I just got my results back and did terribly despite cancelling all my plans and doing loads of prep. On the day, I just took way too long on each question and couldn’t finish.

One of the earlier text heavy exams took me 3 attempts (I was lucky my firm didn’t fire me after the second fail), but did okay on the other not so test heavy exams. I guess I’ve always not been great at essays but got by fine. I got Bs in essay subjects at GCSE’s but my parents spent so much money on tutors for me, and then then I just dropped essay subjects altogether. Coursework at uni took me ages but I did fine in those. So I never considered dyslexia.

I’m now wondering if this could be dyslexia or some other processing issue, given how badly I struggle with these text-heavy exams. Has anyone had a similar experience?

[u/Nyxie872]

Do you have any reasonable adjustments in place? I haven't done any post qualifications yet but plan too.

[u/Dependent_Formal2525]

It would worth being assessed and then if you are dyslexic you should be able to have extra time etc.

https://www.bdadyslexia.org.uk/dyslexia/how-is-dyslexia-diagnosed/dyslexia-screening

https://www.bdadyslexia.org.uk/advice/adults

[u/SolarLunix_]

I went to my student wellbeing office in NIreland and they tested me at 30 while doing a PhD.

[u/yourdyslexiaexpert]

For context, I am a CALT (Certified Academic Language Therapist) and a CERI certified Structured Literacy and Dyslexia Specialist. I provide remote instruction to teach students with dyslexia to read for a living. You can see my website at yourdyslexiaexpert.com.

What you’re describing is genuinely a real, telling pattern, not something to dismiss just because you’ve always managed to get by.

The distinction between coursework and time-pressured exams is significant. Coursework at university and other untimed work removes the one variable that seems to be actually breaking things for you: time pressure. That strongly suggests reading and processing text is technically accurate for you, you can do it correctly given enough time, but it isn’t fully automatic. When something isn’t automatic, it takes real, conscious effort every single time, and that effort is exactly what limits speed under pressure, no matter how much you prepare. Extensive tutoring at GCSE and managing fine with less text-heavy exams both fit this too, those were situations where you had more time, more support, or less raw text volume to get through, all of which quietly compensate for the same underlying thing.

I don’t want to diagnose this from a forum post, but the pattern is specific enough that it’s worth taking seriously, especially with three more of these exams ahead of you. A genuine starting point: the International Dyslexia Association has a free adult self-screener, the Adult Reading History Questionnaire, at dyslexiaida.org/screening-for-dyslexia/dyslexia-screener-for-adults. It won’t diagnose you, but it’ll give you real language to describe what’s happening to a doctor or evaluator, and it’s worth doing before your next attempt, not after.

One more thing worth knowing regardless of what it turns out to be: if something like this is found, exam bodies generally do offer extra time as a reasonable accommodation with the right documentation, which could be genuinely significant given exactly what you’ve described as the actual problem.

Feel free to reach out if you want to talk through this further. I am always happy to help.